Confrontations
by Shagti2
Summary: Ash and Gary face off after years of their rivalry. No rules. No time limit. No pokemon.


Confrontation

By: Shagti2

Ash Ketchum walked out of the stadium, holding his best friend and pokemon, Pikachu. He had him wrapped up in his red sleeveless jacket and started to run to the pokemon center. 

He broke out into a run, his legs pumping turning him into a blur. In the distance he made out the form a person. As he got closer, he almost turned back. #Gary…# Ash realized.

Gary Oak stood in the middle of the road, fingering a poke ball. He was two inches taller than Ash around 5'9. As usual, he wore his purple tunic and that funny chain he always wore. Gray Jeans were tucked into his calf length brown boots. He spotted Ash and smirked.

"Hello, loser," he said in greeting.

Ash felt his anger rise, but decided to squash it. He had more important things to worry about. He started to run past him, but then Gary tripped him. Unable to stop himself fall, Ash turned around in midair falling on his back. He cursed silently, and leapt back up.

Gary looked upon him with hate and loathing, his gaze seeming to burn a hole through Ash. 

"I was talking to you, Loser. Don't run away," Gary said, his voice quiet.

"Dammit, Gary, I don't have time or this! I have to get my pokemon to the pokemon center. Whatever argument you have with me, let it wait!" Ash cried out as he turned around and started of again.

#Hold on Pikachu!# Ash thought, looking down at his unconscious friend. He was so caught up in getting to the center that he didn't hear the sound of three pokeballs opening until their contents leapt up in front of him.

An onix, nidoking, and arcanine glared menacingly at him. Ash stopped, sucked in a deep breath, and turned around. Gary stood behind him, the same smirk on his face.

"What do you want?" Ash asked making sure to keep his anger in check. All of his pokemon were knocked out. If Gary ordered his pokemon to attack him, then he had no way to protect himself.

"Me. You. Here. Now." Gary said in reply.

"I can't do that. You can plainly see why. Look, I'll agree to whatever you want just let me get Pikachu and the rest to the pokemon center." 

"Anything?"

"Any kind of pokemon battle. Just let me through."

Gary took a step towards him, now laughing, an evil chuckle.

"No, no Ash. This is a personal battle. No pokemon. Just me and you. Nothing to fight for us. No rules, no time limit. No one to stop us. Just you," he said pushing him with his finger, "And me."

"Fine," Ash said unhesitatingly.

"One little catch though. Loser must hand over all of his badges, and swear never, EVER, to try to become a pokemon master. In fact, he can never battle again."

Ash was taken a back. Then he looked at the road a head, then he looked at his unconscious friend in his arms. He knew what he had to do.

"Fine. When?"

"Right here. At midnight. No tricks. Make sure you're ass gets here."

Ash glared at him angrily. "And what if I don't?"

"Then I know you have no balls and no honor."

Gary retrieved his pokeballs and called back his pokemon. 

"Now go."

Ash had no trouble getting to the place, his friends sound asleep at their camp. He managed to reach the place at the stroke of midnight. Gary was waiting, leaning against the side of a tree, his eyes closed. 

Angrily walking over to him, Ash was about to say something but Gary said something first.

"I thought you wouldn't come."

"Of course I would come you, sick son of a bitch! Two of my pokemon were poisoned!Nurse Joy said it was almost to late! Of course I would come, to make sure I kicked you're ass!" Ash angrily retorted.

"You want to kick my ass? Follow me," Gary replied, his voice flat and emotionless.

Ash followed him into the woods to find a circular clearing, shaped something like an arena. 

"I'll give you one minute to prepare," Gary said, as took of his chain, purple tunic.

Ash walked over to the opposite end. He took of his league cap, jacket, and black shirt and placed them on the ground.

The two faced each other, thoughts running through their heads. Ash was thinking about how it came to this. He remembered when they were younger and friends. Then as they grew older, Gary became his rival, at first friendly competition then it became personal. The worst part, Gary seemed to always get out on top. It was just awful.Then, somewhere along the line, they became enemies. Ash never wanted it to come to this. 

Gary was thinking about all the hurt he was going to put on his life long enemy. He could still remember the cheers Ash got from his grandfather. The feeling of shame to be defeated so many times by him. The loss of respect for himself. The anger that now was clouding his judgment. It was to much for him to handle. And Gary wasn't suicidal. He decided to take it out on the person his hate was centered on.

It almost seemed to be his dream now. It didn't matter if he became pokemon master. It only mattered that Ash didn't. It was his new goal to destroy Ash, to tear him apart, to humiliate him as he had done to him. That meant making sure the bastard never ever even got the chance.

The two combatants walked into the middle of the field. In a show of respect, Ash bowed. Gary's trademark sneer came back to his face. As Ash went down, Gary brought up his knee, slamming hard into his face.

Ash felt the pain radiate through his face, the blood coming up. He fell backwards, stars starting to cloud his vision. He glared angrily at Gary.

"No fair! I was bowing!" he shouted, already getting back up to his feet.

"Who cares, Ketchum?" Gary retorted, striking a fighting pose.

Ash shook his head, and struck a fighting pose also. They circled each other warily, them Gary launched his attack. He threw his left fist out in a lazy punch, fast enough to pose as a threat, slow enough to act as a decoy. Predictably, Ash intercepted it, leaving his stomach defenseless.

Gary launched a swift front kick to his midsection, robbing Ash of his breath. As Ash went on his knees weezing, he wrung a roundhouse to his jaw. Ash barely ducked in time. He rolled over into a crouch behind Gary, swung around as fast as he could, and threw Gary's feet from underneath him. 

Gary came down hard on to the ground with a loud thud. Making sure the other boy couldn't recover, Ash got up and kicked him savagely in his ribs. Gary withheld a yelp of pain and side rolled his way from Ash.

Getting up again, Gary took a second to look at his bare waist. It was red, but otherwise looked fine. He looked up in time to find Ash running toward him. He ducked in time with Ash's flying kick. At the right moment when Ash was off- balance on top of him, he through him off.

Ash found himself on the ground again, but not as dazed. His adrenaline pumping, he did a front roll forward, just in time to avoid being kicked by Gary. He did a few more to gain distance from him.

Using the momentum of his last roll, he leapt up and faced his adversary. Gary stood in the middle of the field again, crocking his finger at him, telling him to come. Ash broke out into a run, his plan to tackle him. Gary met his charge with one of his own, a large stick in his hand.

With no time to cry out no fair, Ash went after his feet, a very big mistake. Gary swung downwards, the branch catching him firmly in the back. Ash gritted his teeth as the pain erupted in his back. His legs buckled underneath him and he sprawled on the ground.

Gary turned around to find Ash on his belly, trying to get up. He strode towards him, branch firmly in hand. He looked over at Ash, looking down at him. He raised the branch overhead.

Ash glared up angrily at him, to angry and determined to be scared. The branch crashed down heavily on his stomach. He couldn't keep in this scream.

Gary smiled, hearing this, as if knowing he was in pain fed his strength. He hit ash with it a few more times in his gut and the sides. 

Ash was starting to feel numb, the pain to much for his body to handle. He was struggling with the darkness that tried to succumb to him. Remembering what was at stake, he did his best to shake it off.

Gary was once more over him, the branch still in hand. He knelt down and grabbed his hair hard. 

"This is where you belong Ketchum! At my feet! AT MY MERCY!"

He got as his answer a face full of spit.

Grasping angrily at the branch, he threw his head back on the ground. It hit, with almost a sickening thump. Gary raised the branch once more overhead, aiming at his opponent's head, ready to do some major damage. 

Ash sprung up, ignoring the pain and crashed into his rival. His momentum brought him down. Ash quickly got on top of him and started punching, his fear, anger, anguish and pain controlling him.

He was nothing but a blur of punches and slaps, raining down on Gary's face. Ash had never gauged his strength, or the power of his punches, but once he had broken through solid wood in a fit of anger when of Team Rockets schemes had almost worked. By the time he had snapped back to his senses, his rivals face was a mass of blood and bruises.

Gary was breathing hoarsely, his nose broken. He could not believe he had lost. He knew he was beaten, all of his strength and anger replaced by the pain. 

Ash got off of him, his fists dripping with blood. He looked at his hands, and then he looked at Gary.

"You… you won, Ash. In my shirt are my badges. Take them," Gary said.

"No, Gary. Nobody won this night. Nobody." With that, he limped away and gathered his stuff.

"Damn you, Ketchum! Take them!"

"I didn't earn them."

Pokemon, I don't own. Never did, probably never will. Comments and Suggestions to [shagti2@aol.com][1]For those wondering, Ash and Gary are 15 and the battle Ash was coming from was when he defended his title as pokemon master. Oh, and thanks to Wingzero for the idea of Gary and Ash fighting. Read him! He is good! G'night Gracie!

   [1]: mailto:shagti2@aol.com



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